Microsoft Lync Server 2013

The book I read to research this post was Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Unleashed 2nd edition by Alex Lewis et al which is a very good book that I read at http://safaribooksonline.com . I did do a series of tutorials on Lync Server 2013 as a client and if you are reading this on another site they can be found at http://scratbag.me. This book does have information for clients but also looks at it from the administrator’s perspective. The book contains loads and loads of information and I think only someone with experience of using Lync and maybe going through the book and trying out the instructions with the software will get maximum benefit. Lync had a predecessor called Office Communication Server 2007 & Lync 2010 and these always integrated with programs like Office & SQL Server. It is a server based communication tool that lets you use things like instant messaging, video conferencing, e-mail and video phone calls. If you use different software for each of these jobs and home computing based options there may be vulnerabilities that can be exploited by viruses so you are better off getting it in one tidy package. There are 3 versions with the 2013 edition. There is the standard edition, enterprise edition and plus edition. The standard edition is suitable for small to medium sized businesses. The enterprise edition is aimed at large data centers and the plus edition is the same as this edition but with enterprise grade video chat. The standard edition has a lower grade version of video chat and also only works with the SQL Express database which is a free version but lacks many of the features of SQL Server. Lync is like a collection of programs that vary from edition to edition and they call these roles that you must set up. They have many different purposes like you might have an edge server that communicates between your company and the outside world. Obviously you have to control the permissions given to users and what they can access. This is a good book which I thoroughly enjoyed but I think they could have included more illustrations and maybe made it a little easier to follow.

Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Part B

This is the concluding installment to my short blog post series on Microsoft Lync Server 2013 which is based on what I learn on the video training course by CompuWorks on this software. You can have multiple devices ie webcam, microphone etc configured with in Lync Server and choose with in the settings what you use. You can also adjust things like the volume of the ringer and the volume of the caller’s voice etc with in this. You can switch from one means of communication to another quite easily merely select the other medium during the call and this is useful if you have to send a file etc. In Lync you can go to a website and click on a phone number like where they have contact information even one that has letters in the number and it will automatically ask if you wish to call that number. In a video call it uses picture with in a picture technology, mostly a picture of you with in the picture of the person you are speaking to. You can include more than 2 people in a video call and it goes from one person’s picture to another as each person speaks. Lync classifies missed calls the same as missed IM messages and they are displayed together. It displays the number of messages next to the icon and the number disappears once you listen to it. Voicemail is amazingly configurable and you can apply specific personalized recorded greetings to things like someone phoning from a certain number. There is also an automated greeting you can use. The simplest way to start a meeting is simply click the menu button, then meet now to start the online meeting then select the people who are joining it. There are also settings for more important meetings, things like who is the presenter, and who has permission to review the powerpoint slides prior to the meeting. These have to be configured quite often prior to meetings. Also next to each phone record or email message it tells you that person’s status, useful if you need to get in touch with that person. I may try and review a book on Lync as this series is only an introduction and I would like to learn more about it.

Microsoft Lync Server 2013 Part A

This is the first installment in a brief series of blog posts on Microsoft Lync Server 2013 which is based on what I learn on the introductory video training course by CompuWorks on this software. This software which integrates with many of the Microsoft products in particular Exchange Server & Office is all about communication. It works with IM or instant messenging, telephony, email, video chat among others that comprise unified communication in general. You have a status for you to give updates. There is the option of preset status’s you can select ie in a meeting or busy. To a certain extent these status updates can be automated ie if away from the computer it will automatically send out busy or will automatically check the calendar to see what you are doing and update accordingly. There is a virtual phone dialler in this program and if you type part of a person’s name or number, auto complete will do the rest. Contacts are kept in groups to make it easier to find them. There is typically several of these groups and if you right click groups, click create new group and name it you can create a new one. You can have call forwarding with telephone calls and even have it ring 2 numbers simultaneously to make sure you are able to answer it. If you hover over the contacts icon or photo a menu comes including various options to contact them, ie email or IM etc. You can right click the icon and choose always on top which keeps the communication window visible regardless what work you are doing. When finished you can deselect it to turn this feature off. You are able to share files and format text. It also has emoticons to enhance your message. It can integrate with Powerpoint to show a presentation and you can teleconference so several of you have a similar screen. With teleconferencing more than 2 can be in contact at the same time. You also have a virtual whiteboard within the program for drawing and sharing illustrations. I did stop doing the video training course on Administering Sharepoint as it was too difficult but am enjoying this course and sadly there is only 2 installments to this course.